Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. A dark Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center after a power outage postponed the start of YSU's men's and women's basketball seasons on Monday night.

YOUNGSTOWN — A blackout at the Beeghly Center delayed the start of Youngstown State’s men’s and women’s basketball seasons.

Due to an ongoing power outage affecting multiple buildings on campus, YSU’s season-opening women’s basketball game against North Dakota has been canceled. The men’s basketball game against Westminster (Pa.) that was scheduled to follow as part of a doubleheader has been postponed to a later date and time to be determined.

“We lost power in Beeghly, and we know we’re not getting it back (Monday night),” athletic director Ron Strollo said. “At this point, we’ve gotta make sure our student-athletes are safe and our fans are safe. We’ve communicated to all our student-athletes and our fans, and we’re trying to get word out social media-wise.”

Since the Fighting Hawks have travel arrangements to return home to Grand Forks, North Dakota, after Monday’s game, it will not be rescheduled, according to Strollo.

Once power has been restored to the Beeghly Center, YSU will release more information about the possible rescheduling of the men’s contest against the Titans.

“What I just told the team was control what we can control,” YSU women’s head coach Melissa Jackson said. “It wasn’t in the cards for us to play tonight. I feel really bad for North Dakota because they made the trip all the way out here, and I know that’s not an easy travel for them. So I appreciate them trying to work things out. But again, we can’t control this. So we’ll just continue to move forward and go day-by-day.”

With new head coaches — Jackson for the women and Ethan Faulkner for the men — leading the way, both the men’s and women’s programs were set to begin new eras on Monday night.

YSU was also set to unveil its new and improved arena after a summer-long interior renovation that included new state-of-the-art seats for both the upper and lower sections and other new aesthetic improvements.

“It’s disappointing,” Strollo said. “Our kids have worked all summer, and our coaches — we had two coaches that were having their debut. And the Zidian Family Arena was having its debut tonight. So in that way we’re disappointed. Fortunately no one got hurt, we’ll get everyone home safe, and we’ll get the basketball season started before you know it.”

The women’s team now turns its attention to its next scheduled game, which is set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m. against Lake Erie and will now serve as the team’s home and season opener.

If the men’s game against Westminster is not able to be made up this week, then their next scheduled contest will be a road game at Chicago State on Saturday at 8 p.m.

“We’ll pivot and focus on Lake Erie,” Jackson said. “Luckily, it’s at home. So it’s still a home opener for us, and hopefully we’ll be able to be in front of our great fans. I am disappointed that we don’t have the doubleheader. I think that would have been just a great atmosphere to kick off all the renovations here in Beeghly. But again, control what you can control.”